IIM Ahmedabad
All throughout those five years when in college and while working when I dreamt of being a part of any “reputed” B-school, I always used to wonder what “those studs” are made of…the ones who make it to the hallowed IIMs… leave aside those who make it to IIMA… they are surely Gods in the form of human beings… those rare geniuses who are “blessed” with some kind of a divine power…
When you hear so much about IIMs… the respect and authority they command… when you hear the “level” of profs there… who are no less than Gods themselves… it is a treat to your eyes and indeed your extreme good fortune to get a rare opportunity to interact with them… and to put it simply… discover yourself…who you are…
Believe me…it was for the first time I realized who I really am when I interacted with those profs… they were amazing…
Today when I look back and jot down my experience here… these are not my words… rather these are my emotions…my sentiments… my feelings… my worries… my joy… my anxiety… my toil and blood… everything that I have done to “achieve” something which I never even dreamt would actually turn into a reality someday…
First the details….
Date: 18th March,2008
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Venue: The Kenilworth Hotel,
Group Discussion:
To the surprise of many, IIMA did away with the “cumbersome” process of Group Discussions. People might disagree with me, yet I am inclined to say that a GD does not serve any purpose other than wasting your precious 10-15 minutes… Everybody is purposefully and disgustfully cordial and gentle… something which none of us are in our ordinary course of life… J
This time IIMA had introduced 10 minute Essay writing… we were to write an essay on a topic given to us on a space in our interview forms…the space was nearly that of 3/4th of an A-4 sheet…
There were 10 of us in my group… I was seated No.9 in a semicircular order. One prof stood up and before giving us the topic gave us a few instructions…”Your time would be for 10 mins…no more than that… and you cant use any extra space elsewhere…you have to fit in your thoughts in the space provided… and please do not use SMS and e-mail language…This is a formal occasion, so write in a formal language.
Then he gave us the topic…our heart beat had almost doubled…what shall be the topic…10 mins time is too less a time… what to do… O God…please help me…
He wrote the topic…”Yoga: A fad?”
I believe I wrote a decent essay…I mentioned how in today’s world, when every body has a stressful life...how can a few hours of meditation and exercise be of immense help..
The concentration and “dhyan” is an ancient Indian practice and the concept of yoga is turning out to be “a fad” only because the “fashion industry” is embracing the repackaged version of yoga that is being “imported” from the West.
Then I talked about the benefits of a few “asanas”… how it helps in providing relief from both chronic and non chronic diseases…how “Anulom-vilom” helps in curing the respiratory disorders and “pavanmuktasana” helps in curing digestive disorders…
After mentioning about Baba Ramdev and his contribution to Yoga, I finally concluded saying that I have personally practiced Yoga for three and a half years…
After the essay writing… we were asked to submit the essays and move outside and wait and wait till we were called…
I was number 9….so I knew it would take around 2 hours before my turn would come… There were 30 candidates in my time slot… 3 panels each of 10 students… The biggest news that morning was that the Bear Stearns bank had gone bankrupt due to American recession etc… so we were discussing all that and many more things… but however “cooool” and “jolly” we appeared to be… tension was clearly reflected in our faces… after all why shouldn’t we be nervous?? It is IIMA’s interview after all!!!
It was noticed that after a candidate came out of the room…the next candidate was called after some 4-5 minutes… this was the interval when the profs were discussing about the exited candidate’s performance and also going through the profile, essay etc of the next candidate.
The first candidate came out… very tensed…very tough acads questions asked… could not answer much…and then…as others started coming out…they also had similar faces…dejected… All were being thoroughly grilled in acads and general awareness… the situation was truly grim then… the ones who were remaining now started realizing why IIMa’s interview is IIMA’s interview… L
Candidate number 8 was called in(I was 9th)… My heart beat had steadily started increasing… There were several things that were coming to my mind… CAT preparation for 5 years… second attempt to CAT… managed to get 99.63 %ile…6 calls..more importantly a call from IIMA… and the worst thought was…just the previous day(17th March) was my IIMC interview….which went horribly bad… I knew I had no chance in IIMC…that is out of my reach now… and IIMB is the most weird one while selecting students… will I get into IIMA?? Perhaps no… IIMA is meant for geniuses… not for me… I can assure you that my heartbeat had increased infinitely many times now…for I knew that the guy who had gone inside…his time was nearing an end and that I shall be in within a few moments…
Then the guy came out…with a fallen face…sweating forehead…shaking hands…ears as red as ripe tomatoes… I could just hear him say,”IIMA gone…”…
I stood still… now was my turn… what would happen?? Kya hoga?? Main to English bhi bhool
Personal Interview:
P1: the most aged and most senior one…around 55
P2: the one who asked me maths…age around 50
P3: young prof…age around 40
P3 calls me in…
As I enter the room… I hear P1 say to P2..”PricewaterhouseCoopers”…”5 months”(My work ex then)…
I approach towards the seat…
Me: (smile…broad and genuine)…Good Morning Sirs!!!
P1,P2,P3..: Good Morning Anurag… please take your seat…
Me:(smile) Thank you sirs!!!
P1: Hmm… so Anurag… you practice yoga, eh?? (And smiles)
Me: Sir… I have practiced yoga for three and a half years… but that was 10 years ago… I don’t practice it now… (smile)
P1: Okay Okay… (smiles)… that is good… now from where should we begin… Tell us something about our work-ex…
And then we started discussing about “my work-ex”. Seriously, I didn’t have much to speak on it… but somehow managed to answer most of his questions. Of course I don’t remember the exact questions now… J This part lasted for some 6-7 minutes… while at that time P2and P3 looked very intently at me… baapre!!!!
Now P2 starts…
P2: Okay Anurag… I get that you are an Electrical Engineer……..
Me: (smile) Yessss sir!!! ( I was like… wish I were one!!!)
P2:(smile) Okay!! So let me ask you a few questions on Maths!!!
Me: (Arey yeh kahaan se aa
P2: (Giving me a piece of paper and pencil)… Kindly draw the curve of y=sin(1/x)… in y vs x graph…
Me: (Trying to figure out what that could be..i get one or two points on the curve… but you know… we cant plot the curve with just two points in hand… L…. So I ask a very stupid question) Sir… 1/x in in radians or in degrees!!!!
P2: (Smiling…almost breaking into laughter)…. Anything…whichever you like!!! JJ
Me: ( Shit!!!! Kya foolish questions poochha hoon)….ok sir!!!
After drawing several imaginary curves just above the surface of the paper…I say…
Me: Sir.. I think this cannot be done….!!!!!
P2: ( Surprised…then smiles)….Arey??? this cant be done???? J J
Me: Err….sir ….i mean this cant be done by me ;) (OOOFFF!!! What a save!!!)
P2: JJ okay fine….leave that…. Tell me do you know integration??
Me: yes sir… I know integration.. J
P2: Okay…then tell me what is the integration of sinxcosxdx???
Me: (I show each and every step in the problem… and end up writing the correct answer along with an integration constant)
P2: (Then starts grilling me on integration constant…tries to confuse me… ask its significance…interpretation… I manage that pretty well…)
P2: okay… differentiate |x|
Me: JJ Sir… |x| cannot be differentiated….!!!
Now P1 jumps in….
P1: Hehehe!! See… what a coincidence!! The first problem he said cant be done…now again he says this cant be done…What a coincidence… Anurag… you are getting all wrong problems or what??? JJ
Me: No sir… J J… that is not the thing…. Actually |x| cannot be differentiated.. (then start explaining them the reason why was it so…..and give them the correct explanation…)
P2: (Cutting me short…) okay okay… I get it… I know you know the answer J J
P2: (Then asks me a few more questions on maths…..)
I answer them correctly….
Now P3 starts…
P3: Anurag, in your essay… you have mentioned about chronic as well as non chronic diseases…..and have mentioned that yoga cures them….can you name a few chronic diseases??
Me: (yaar!! Kya question poochha hai….never expected all these.. L)… Sir… I think Asthma is an example of chronic disease…
P3: And??
Me: Ummm…I think Arthritis as well…
P3: And??
Me: Ummm…sir…these are the ones that come to my mind now….cant think of anything else… JJ
P3: Okay that is fine… tell me…what about AIDS?? Is that chronic???
P1: JJ(Jumping in)…see.!! He will say chronic!!!
Me: No sir…I don’t think it is chronic in nature,,,though I am not 100% sure.. J J
P3: Hmm…what is the full form of AIDS???
Me: (Almost instantaneously)….Sir.. It stands for the Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome… J
P3: Yes yes… but tell me how does it kill the human beings?? I mean what disease does it cause??
Me: Sir, Actually when this AIDS virus enters our body….
P1: (Cutting me and starts laughing)…AIDS virus?? What is that?? Never heard of such a thing in my life!!! (And P2 and P3 start laughing)
Me: (smiling and then rolling out my tongue.. J)Err….my terrible mistake sir…there is nothing called AIDS virus…it is the HIV…Human Immunodefiency Virus…when this HIV enters the human body…it does not cause any disease as such… all it does it that it destroys the immunity of our body…what in common language is called the resistance power….now as that immunity is destroyed…the body catches ordinary diseases but is unable to defend itself…thus due to the absence of this immunity…humans slowly die… J
P3: Okay fine… J J that is okay… Now tell me what do you know about Bretton Woods???
Me: (Thinking….was he the first one to contact AIDS??? No I don’t know…cant risk that…. Is he some step brother of Tiger Woods…umm…maybe…but not sure…kya karoon…what should I say??)…. Sir… I think I don’t know the answer… J J (Yes I did smile when I said that….)
P3: Umm…okay…let me give you a hint…this Bretton Woods is associated with some institution…..
Me: (Thinking…IIMa ka dean….director or HOD nahin ho sakta… Harvard ka Boss hai kya??)….No sir… I still fail to get it… J J
P3: Hmm… never heard the name of World Bank??
Me: Oh yes sir!! Certainly I have heard the name of World Bank… but did not know about Bretton Woods…
P3: Okay… see..this World bank falls under the Bretton Woods agreement…now do you get it??
Me: JJ Okay sir…
P3: Now tell me some other organization that is like World bank and falls under Bretton Woods agreement…
Me: I guess it could be the IMF…The International Monetary Fund that is….
P3: No…that is not right….
Me: umm….sir …I know IMF and WB are very similar in functioning…so I said IMF….but then if it is wrong…I do not know the answer… JJ
P3: Okay…but have you ever heard the name of WTO??
Me: (smiling)…I guess you are referring to the World Trade Organisation??
P3: J J Yes yes…
Me: Oh Yes sir…the World Trade…
P3: (Cutting me…) No no…what I want to know is…tell me the name of an organization that preceded the WTO….
Me: J J Sir…it was called the G-A-T-T….
P3: Full form please..
Me: (smiling)…o yes sir… I was just about to mention that…it stands for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.. J J
P3: J yes that is right….btw…why was this GATT dissolved??
Me: (explained everything….disagreements between US and European countries on agricultural and carbon credit issues….strong protests…domination of US…unacceptable to others… Uruguay Round of talks from 1986 to 1994…. Finally I ended saying that the GATT was dissolved in the year 1994….
P3: okay okay fine fine…but I didn’t want to know the year when it was dissolved…but good that you have mentioned it…
Me: (smile)
P3: Any interest in politics???
Me: (Now you are entering my domain….i was thrilled at heart …but calm outside…)Sir… I think have a little knowledge in politics.. J
P3: hmm…okay name three political parties……. (He then paused)…..
Me: (I was just on the verge of saying Cong BJP CPM in the same breath when he continued…..)
P3: of
Me: J J Sure sir… With your permission,I will name the three major political parties of
P3: Full form please…
Me: JJ yes sir yes sir…I was just about to say that…
It stands for the Pakistan Peoples Party…the next is the PML(N)…which stands for Pakistan Muslim League ( Nawaz)…named after former PM Nawaz Sharif…and the third one was PML(Q)…which was backed by President Pervez Musharraf..and it stands for the Pakistan Muslim League……..
P3:cutting me…..okay okay okay okay…I get it … i get it…..
P1 P2 P3 look at each other….
Now the most interesting part of the interview….
P3: okay Thank You Anurag… Nice meeting you……you may take one candy from here…(there were two plates…containing candies…one plate contained Polo and the other had some other “packed” toffee)…
I took one Polo and popped it in my mouth….and said “Thank you sir”.. J J
All this while P1 and P2 were looking at my marksheets and other certificates…while P3 had been interviewing me….. so as I started getting ready to leave… P1 suddenly looks up and says...
P1: What happened?? Did you accept our candy?? J
Me: Yes sir.. J (and I showed them the Polo that was in my mouth!!!! J (What an Act!!!!!)
P1: No no….you please take the other candy as well…the one that has this packet…
Me: (confused…arey yeh kya ho raha hai???? Are they testing my greed or what???? L)… Sir.. I have already taken one candy… J J
Now P1 P2 P3 start together : No no Anurag… Please accept the other candy as well..please…please…please…
P1: (smiling)…See. Anurag …we are offering two candies to a few select candidates!!!!!
Me: (??????)…sure sir……I shall take this other one….but since I already have one polo in my mouth… I am keeping this toffee in my pocket…I shall have it later… J J
P1: O that is upto you… J J…But please eat that one…okay?? J J
Me: Definitely sir..!! JJ
Me: Thank you very much Sirs!! Thank you very much for your time!!
All 3 of them… “Thank you very much Anurag for coming(??????)..”
I exit from the room…….
After coming out of the room…..it comes to my mind… “We are offering two candies
to a few select candidates….what does that mean????????”
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